“National Singles Week” was started by the Buckeye Singles Council in Ohioin the 1980s to celebrate single life and recognize singles and theircontributions to society. The week is now widely observed during the thirdfull week of September (Sept. 17-23 in 2006) as “Unmarried and SingleAmericans Week,” an acknowledgment that many unmarried Americans do notidentify with the word “single” because they are parents, have partners orare widowed.

Single Life89.8 millionNumber of unmarried and single Americans in 2005. This group comprised 41percent of allU.S. residents age 18 and older.

54%Percentage of unmarried and single Americans who are women.

60%Percentage of unmarried and single Americans who have never been married.Another 25 percent are divorced and 15 percent are widowed.>

14.9 millionNumber of unmarried and single Americans age 65 and older. These olderAmericans comprise 14 percent of all unmarried and single people.>

86Number of unmarried men age 18 and older for every 100 unmarried women intheUnited States.

55 millionNumber of households maintained by unmarried men or women. These householdscomprise49 percent of households nationwide.

29.9 millionNumber of people who live alone. These persons comprise 26 percent of allhouseholds, up from 17 percent in 1970.Parenting32%Percentage of births in 2004 to unmarried women.

12.9 millionNumber of single parents living with their children in 2005. Of these, 10.4million are single mothers.

672,000Number of unmarried grandparents who were caregivers for theirgrandchildren in 2004. They comprised nearly 3-in-10 grandparents who wereresponsible for their grandchildren. (Source: American FactFinder)

Unmarried Couples4.9 millionNumber of unmarried-partner households in 2005. These households consist ofa householder living with someone of the opposite sex who was identified astheir unmarried partner.

Dating904The number of dating service establishments nationwide as of 2002. Theseestablishments, which include Internet dating services, employed nearly4,300 people and pulled in $489 million in revenues.

Voters36%Percentage of voters in the 2004 presidential election who were unmarried.

Education82%Percentage of unmarried people age 25 or older in 2004 who were high schoolgraduates.

23%Percentage of unmarried people age 25 or older with a bachelor’s degree ormore education.

“Special Editions” of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Facts for Features areissued to provide background information for less known observances,anniversaries of historic events and other timely topics in the news.

Editor’s note: The preceding data were collected from a variety of sourcesand may be subject to sampling variability and other sources of error.Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau’s PublicInformation Office: telephone: 301-763-3030; fax: 301-457-3670; or e-mail:.

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About Me

Ben J. Wattenberg is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. He is the moderator of the weekly PBS television program Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg, which is now being expanded to include a new one hour program Think Talk . He has served as a presidential speechwriter and advisor for president Lyndon Johnson. Ben also served as an aide and speech-writer to "Scoop" Jackson and VP Hubert Humphrey. He is currently working on a forthcoming book Tales of a Neo-Con ,an accompanying volume of selected posts from this blog, and highlights from the best of Think Tank.